Case 3: Serious Games 1

Emily Gilleys Title Page for Case 3: Serious Games Emily Gilley Purdue University- EDCI 270

Case 3: Serious Games 2 Case 3: Serious Games To whom it may concern: I was recently asked to write a report that that includes a description of the online game, Spent, and then asked to explain why that it is important in a classroom setting. In my research of Spent, I spent a small amount of time interacting in the game, therefore, allowing me to actually get into the mindset of the students which allowed for me to see the setting of the classroom from their point of view. After spending time on www.playspent.org, I realized that this serious game made the students, as well as myself, think about life from a different perspective. Even when I played it, I knew I was still seeing it in another way, entirely, from the students. There is a lot that can be taken away from this game. Students actually get a real life experience when participating in the game, opposed to just being told over and over about it. When the students begin the game, they have to critically think about and choose what job they think they could do and live off of each month. They choose between being a restaurant server, warehouse worker, or a temp. Each of these has a brief description of their pay, their hours, benefits, and what is expected of the job seeker. After choosing a job, they then are given real life experiences, such as getting insurance or not getting, paying rent, selling items because they cannot fit them into their new apartment, and having a child that they cannot afford to send on the class field trip. When they are playing this game, they are trying to live month by month and paycheck to paycheck. The goal is to have money left at the end of the month and have gotten things that were essential, and be living healthily and happily in the end. I also researched more serious games in order to get a better understanding of these games. I found games dealing with different subjects that could be put into daily classroom use and I feel that I now have a better understanding of what a serious game is. I now understand how our teachers and staff are able to incorporate these games into their daily classroom settings, because each game has a specific goal that allows the students to relate it to their everyday lives. Some of my thoughts on how our students could benefit from these websites include them being able to incorporate the things they are studying into their daily lives. Another would be, they are learning in a different, more nontraditional way, thus keeping them more focused and enabling them to use newer, more up to date technologies that they will use in college and their careers. Studies have shown that students that have participated in these serious games have improved text scores in comparison to those who do not interact in the games. I also found two articles that reinforce my opinions and views of these games. I have included these articles at the end of my letter. In the first article I read, Games in Education: Serious Games, I found that they assess the students by either quizzing them periodically throughout the game or they use the times of the students to measure and record how they are improving and moving forward in their education.

Case 3: Serious Games 3 The next article I found was Do Serious Games Work? Results from Three Studies. I found this article very intriguing, in that, it discusses results from three perspectives, and it breaks the purpose and research down. It was explained throughout the article how important and how relevant the use of serious games are, because it helps improve test scores and has many benefits. This article was set in the students points of views. Each student had something to say on every case and each case had their own graphics to represent the results of each experiment. This article allows for me to clearly see pros to this method of teaching. In conclusion, I find that this technique of learning is a very useful way to teach, indeed. It allows for students to interact in a real life situation, and be interactive with each other. It also prepares them for the future because as we all know, technology is expanding and eventually everyone will have to use technology is some form. As a concerned parent, I hope that you will also take the time to read through and evaluate the pros and cons of this method of teaching. If there are any questions or further concerns, please feel free to contact me, and I will do my absolute best in order to answer you concerns. Sincerely, Miss Emily Gilley

Case 3: Serious Games 4 Blunt, R. (December, 2009). Do Serious Games Work? Results from Three Studies. Retrieved from http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=1661378 Ulicsak, M., & Wright, M. (September, 2010). Retrieved from http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications-reports-articles/literaturereviews/Literature-Review1788